


what love is

by grimmrific



Category: The Sisters Grimm - Michael Buckley
Genre: F/F, First Crush, Short & Sweet, takes place during the everafter war
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-14
Updated: 2020-08-14
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:08:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25890361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grimmrific/pseuds/grimmrific
Summary: Daphne has her first crush during a war. Awkwardness abound.
Relationships: Daphne Grimm/Little Red Riding Hood (The Sisters Grimm), Puck Goodfellow/Sabrina Grimm (mentioned)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 27





	what love is

_Is this what love is?_

Daphne stared at her finished pencil sketch. It depicted a girl in a red dress with soft brown hair that fell down to her shoulders. She had a round, youthful face, and freckles that dotted across her nose and cheeks. The real girl, who had been sitting across the room posing, now timidly asked, "Can I see it?"

Daphne spent a few more seconds checking for mistakes before replying, "Of course you can see it, Red." She felt herself blush as Red made her way across the room and looked over Daphne's shoulder at the portrait.

"Oh," she gasped, covering her mouth with her hand. "I look so..."

Daphne held her breath.

"... Pretty."

She exhaled with relief. "Anything for a friend."

Red smiled back; it was a warm, genuine smile that made Daphne feel all fluttery inside. She wished that she could make Red smile like that all the time.

"Do you think," Red began softly, "that you could maybe draw the two of us together?"

"Together?" Daphne repeated. She tried to think of how she usually drew people together: two stick figures, side by side, holding hands. She didn't know if she could draw herself and Red holding hands. _Would that be weird?_

"Are you sure?" Daphne asked. 

Red nodded. "I'd like a picture with my best friend."

Daphne's cheeks turned scarlet. "You got it."

Later, at the mess hall, Daphne watched Puck and Sabrina argue from across the table. Puck was always doing mean things to her, and Sabrina was always calling him names in retaliation. It wasn't long ago that Puck had given her a tail, and it seemed like he was already planning something else. 

_They're supposed to get married in the future_ , Daphne thought glumly, poking at her mashed potatoes. _If that's love, then what is it that I've been feeling?_ She accidentally made eye contact with Red, who was sitting two seats down from Sabrina. She offered Daphne a small smile as Mr. Canis talked to her seriously about something. When she and Daphne were together, they never talked about what she was going through. Red liked it that way. 

Daphne looked down at the sketchpad on her lap. The drawing was almost finished, but she couldn't figure out what to do with the eyes. _Should we be looking at each other, or looking ahead?_ For whatever reason, small details like that seemed to make all the difference. It was never like that with anyone else.

She felt a hand on her shoulder, and looked up to see her mother. "Hey," said Veronica. "You feeling okay?"

Daphne's shoulders relaxed; she hadn't even realized they were so tensed up. "Mom... how did you know you were in love with dad?"

Veronica shrugged. "Well, honey, I just knew. It's like this: you meet someone, you feel happy with them, you want to be around them all the time, you realize you can't live without them, and that's when you know you love them."

"Is it always like that?" asked Daphne uncertainly. 

"Mostly," Veronica replied with a reassuring pat. "But to be honest with you, I'm not so happy with your dad right now." She gestured to Henry, who was visibly stewing in anger as people and Everafters alike talked merrily around him. "I bet you've noticed he's been grumpy lately."

"Uh-huh," said Daphne with a nod. He wasn't anything like how she remembered.

"That's normal, too. Sometimes the people you love can get annoying, but they're your soulmate. You just put up with it," Veronica concluded with a smile. "They're like family in that way."

\---

Daphne was shocked when, later that night, Red ran into their shared bedroom crying and threw herself upon her bed. She instinctively hid the sketchpad, and then approached the weeping girl.

"Oh Red, please don't cry, you're gonna make me cry."

"I'm sorry," Red sobbed. "It's just that I remembered... I remembered..."

"You don't have to say it. I don't want you to be uncomfortable. I'm your friend, aren't I?"

 _The word "friend" means something different with her_ , thought Daphne. _I have lots of friends, but I've never felt like this. I hope that this is what love is, I really do._

"I'm done with the sketch," she offered. "Do you wanna see it?"

"Yes," sniffed Red. "That would be nice."

Daphne slid the sketchpad across the bed, and Red picked it up with amazement, drying her tears. Daphne had drawn the two of them holding hands and looking at each other, smiling, while the adults argued above them. She had tried to make it true to life, and now, judging by the look on Red's face, she could tell that it worked. 

"I love it," said Red softly. 

"You're welcome," Daphne replied, blushing.

Neither of them said anything for a few moments. Outside, they could hear Charming and Snow barking orders, and down the hall, they could hear Elvis barking as Puck and Sabrina yelled at each other.

"It's noisy in here," said Red finally. "Do you want to go on a walk? You don't have to if you don't want to..."

"I'd love to."

Red smiled that warm, genuine smile, and Daphne's heart swelled up as it always did. She puffed out her chest.

"Now c'mon, toots," she said in a deep voice, offering Red her arm. Red giggled and linked arms with her, and the two started off.

It was a cold evening, and barely anyone was outside, except for the people that had to be there. This meant that all of the adults were too busy to pay attention to the two girls, who were huddled together and making their way across the campsite with determination.

"Where do you want to go?" asked Red.

"The view is good on top of those towers," replied Daphne, nodding toward the camp's defense mechanisms: wooden towers that shot water out of cannons.

"Yes, we can go up there," smiled Red. "That would be nice."

They passed by the graveyard, where Jake, as usual, was camped out by Briar's grave. Daphne always looked away during this part-- she couldn't bear to see him like that. _Is that what love is?_ she thought with a sad ache in her heart.

They made it to the water tower. "You climb up first," Daphne told Red, "so that if you fall, I'll catch you."

Red agreed and began carefully climbing up the water tower. Daphne followed soon after.

"Yeesh," said Daphne upon reaching the top. "I think it's colder up here than it was down there."

She sat down next to Red, who silently took off her red jacket and wrapped it around Daphne. 

"Heh... thank you," Daphne said nervously. And then she felt it. That gut feeling. _This is love!!!_

She looked over at Red curiously. _I wonder if she feels it too._

Then, as if on cue, Red slipped her hand into Daphne's. It felt like an immense weight had been lifted off Daphne's shoulders, and she sighed in relief.

"You were right, Daphne," said Red contently. "The view is wonderful."

 _So are you_ , thought Daphne. But she knew she didn't have to say it out loud; Red could feel it. She felt it in the portraits Daphne drew, and in the way Daphne blushed when she smiled at her. They could both feel that love, sitting alone together, admiring the view from above the chaos.


End file.
